Facilitating electronic commerce through two-tiered electronic markets and auctions

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented two-tiered electronic market system includes a data repository storing information corresponding to an inventory of one or more available items and a first-tier electronic market (e.g., a retail tier) that provides a first participant (e.g., a retail consumer) access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository. The inventory is offered to the first participant under a first (e.g., retail) pricing scheme. The two-tiered electronic market system also includes a second-tier electronic market (e.g., a wholesale tier) that provides a second participant (e.g., a wholesale dealer), different from the first participant, access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository. The inventory is offered to the second participant under a second (e.g., wholesale) pricing scheme different from the first pricing scheme. Electronic commerce is facilitated using an electronic auction system having at least a wholesale tier and a retail tier by presenting for auction an item description stored in a database operationally coupled to the electronic auction system. The presentation of the item includes a current retail bid amount. A wholesale bid is received from at least one wholesale-tier participant and the current retail bid amount is selectively displaced if the received wholesale bid increased by a predetermined amount is greater than the current retail bid.

This patent application is a continuation U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/166,779 filed Oct. 6, 1998, which is a divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/554,704 filed Nov. 7, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No.5,845,265, issued Dec. 1, 1998, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/427,820 filed Apr. 26, 1995, all of whichare incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to used and collectible goods offered forsale by an electronic network of consignment stores. More specifically,the present invention may be an electronic “market maker” forcollectable and used goods, a means for electronic “presentment” ofgoods for sale, and an electronic agent to search the network for hardto find goods. In a second embodiment to the present invention, a lowcost posting terminal allows the virtual presentment of goods to marketand establishes a two tiered market of retail and wholesale sales.

Certain items and used goods have a large following of collectors. Theseitems include baseball cards, dolls, pens, watches, comic books, stamps,coins, and the like. It is well known to establish shops specializing inthese items. It is also well-known to establish boards for the sale ofused goods. And is known to sell new goods on a special televisionchannel like the Home Shopping Channel.

The prior art does not provide a means to electronically market usedgoods or provide an avenue to allow participants to speculate on theprice of collectable or used goods in an electronic market place.Moreover, the art does not show a way for small to medium size businessto use a low cost posting terminal in conjunction with a market makercomputer to collectively create a virtual market for used andcollectible goods. Thus, to address the short comings of the art thepresent invention has the following objectives:

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To establish a low cost computer means for a used good and/orconsignment stores to establish a “trusted” computerized market for usedand collectible goods.

To establish a computer means to administrate and provide inventorytracking to used good and/or consignment stores when the stores make avirtual presentment of a good to a computerized market and the good issold at the virtual market and/or the good is sold through the storefront.

To establish a computer means to double tier a computerized market forgoods, where the first tier is a retail price and the second tier is awholesale or dealer to dealer price and an authorized dealer haspre-approved access to the dealer-to-dealer price and may charge anddisplay the retail price to a local store customer.

To establish a computer means for archiving records of transactions in acomputerized market for collectible and used goods and distributing thearchive to computer terminals that may then research and analyzevaluation and price trends of collectible and used goods in thecomputerized market.

To establish a computer means for a used good store or consignment storeto sell used goods and collectibles electronically and to provide theautomatic electronic resale of goods purchased.

To establish a market for goods with a dominant electronic “marketmaker” node to allow collectors to speculate on the collectable goodsmarket.

To provide the excitement of a “live” auction house type atmosphere toremote participants in a electronic auction.

To provide data analysis to the market makers of collectable good orconsignment node users on the price, price movements, and quantity ofcollectable goods in the virtual market.

To provide an electronic agent interface for participants to search aplurality of consignment nodes to search for a used good or collectableitem.

To provide a means to track down the owner of a particular used orcollectable good.

Further, to provide a trusted network of consignment nodes that act asbrokers to provide a means to electronically present a used good orcollectable to an electronic market.

The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention are illustrativeof those which can be achieved by the present invention and are notintended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages whichcan be realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the description herein or can be learnedfrom practicing the invention, both as embodied herein or as modified inview of any variations which may be apparent to those skilled in theart. Accordingly the present invention resided in the novel methods,arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.

The present invention is a network of consignment nodes and a low costeasy to use posting terminal for the virtual presentment of goods tomarket. A consignment node is a computer database of used goodspreferably operated by a used good, collectable shop keeper or a bailee.A posting terminal is a low cost easy to use computer and computerperipheral devices used by a small store owner to present goods to acomputerized marker and track the sales of goods and control the postedinventory. All consignment nodes users or operators, hereinafter users,are “trusted” licensees or franchisers of the software and hardwarenecessary to create and operate a consignment node. Thus, the networkprovides a trusted means for consignment node users, e.g. shop keepers,to establish electronic markets for collectable goods, establishelectronic auctions, establish a means for searching each others shopsto locate hard to find collectibles items, and a means to electronicallypresent goods to a market. The present invention will allow, or license,certain consignments nodes to become a dominant market maker for aparticular class of goods, for example, a consignment node franchise maybe given the rights to establish the dominant market for collectableantique pens. It is understood, a central market maker computer may bevirtually divided into different markets with posting terminals used asthe means for the market to obtain virtual title goods. Otherconsignment nodes, after taking physical possession of a good, may makean electronic presentment of that good to such a dominant consignmentnode market. Thus, a local collector of antique pens may bring a pen toa convenient consignment node in Smalltown, USA, the consignment networkwould allow this collector to electronically “present” his pen to thedominant market make node for antique pens in for example, Chicago.Participants, e.g. customers and collectors (hereinafter“participants”), may reach a dominant node's market, or any otherconsignment nodes electronic store, from his or her home by logging onfrom a PC located at the participant's home to their locally operatedconsignment node and reaching the distant consignment node through thenetwork of consignment nodes. Thus, each consignment node user, e.g.shop keeper, has a potential participant, i.e. customer base, of allconsignment node participants. In other words, a potentially hugecustomer base that incurs the minimal cost of a local consignment nodeconnection may reach any other consignment node through the consignmentnode network. And local collector's may economically participate in thecollectable markets by using local access to a convenient consignmentnode “trusted” bailee, and electronically presenting collectable goodsto an electronic market.

A consignment node in a simple form may have a computer 10, a digitalcamera 12, a bar code scanner 14, a display 16, a printer 20, a keyboard18, a database 22 and a network connection 26 collectively calledhereinafter a consignment node. The present invention also has a userinterface application program to execute an a user or participant's dataterminal 28.

The consignment node may have four modes of operation: a softwaredownload mode, an auction mode, a market mode, and an agent mode. Thesoftware download mode allows a participant to log into the consignmentnode and receive a download of a participant interface applicationprogram. The auction mode allows a participant, from the participantinterface application program, to log into a consignment node to partakein an electronic auction. The market mode allows a participant with theparticipant interface program to log into a consignment node to browsethe consignment node database to search for a used or collectable good.The agent mode allows a participant to log into a consignment node toformulate a search request for a particular used good or collectable.The consignment node may search its own database for the requested goodand/or generate agents to search and report back a search request ofother consignment nodes.

The present invention may allow a participant to electronically purchasegoods from a consignment node and to select whether the good should beshipped to a participant designed location or the participant may takeelectronic legal ownership of a good and post a new participant definedoffer or reserve price. By the interaction of a plurality ofparticipants buying and selling collectibles on a consignment node,posting “buy at” and “sell at” quantities and prices the consignmentnode may establish a market or become a “market maker” for collectablegoods. A participant may also elect to electronically transfer orpresent a good to a different consignment node or market. This allows aparticipant to speculate with collectable goods on the consignment nodenetwork's different markets and not incur the shipping costs withphysically moving the goods, while providing a trusted means to assurepotential buyers of the good's bona fide availability and legal title.

The consignment node operator or purveyor, hereinafter referred to asthe consignment node user, establishes his consignment node by creatinga database of used goods or collectibles, hereinafter the term “goods”shall be used to reflect used goods, new goods and collectibles. Theuser takes the first good to be put on the database and invokes theconsignment node software to create a data record. For example, the userowns a baseball card collector shop and the user wants to post his BabeRuth collection. The user in this instance invokes the consignment nodeto “build the database mode” and the invention initializes the digitalcamera 15. The user then “photographs” or digitizes the image of theparticular Babe Ruth card. The consignment system then displays an emptydatabase record on the display to accept text information concerning thecard.

The user fills out the display record with information concerning theparticular Babe Ruth card. The consignment node verifies that enoughinformation has been filled out in the displayed computer record, aswell known to the electronic database arts, and accepts the record. Itshould be noted that the consignment node database record has datafields for the consignment node user to add value to his consignmentnode postings with subjective information such as condition of the card,special features such as autographed by Babe Ruth, and the like. Thus,the consignment node user may build business goodwill into hisparticular consignment node operation by establishing his own particularsubjectivity and quality standards in item postings.

After the data record or the particular Babe Ruth card is accepted bythe consignment node the system may print out a bar code label on theprinter 20. The user may then put the particular Babe Ruth card into aplastic bag and affix the bar code label to the bag. The bar codelabeling system becomes a useful inventory management tool discussedbelow.

It is understood in this first example that the consignment node user isthe legal and equitable owner of the Babe Ruth card and that the userposted a reserve or offer price on the particular card at his posting.In a second illustrative example, a local resident would like to post,for example, his Frank Robinson baseball card. The resident brings hisFrank Robinson card to the baseball card store and tells the consignmentnode user he would like to offer his Frank Robinson card for aconsignment sale. Again, the consignment node user invokes the systemdatabase posting mode and “photographs” the Frank Robinson card withdigital camera 12. As above, the user fills in the system generateddisplay prompt for information concerning the Frank Robinson card. Theresident informs the user of the reserve or offer price and signs oragrees to a consignment contract with the consignment node user toaccept the consignment terms to pay the consignment node user on thesale of the card, for example 6%, of sales price as a consignment fee.Again, the system may print the appropriate bar code for the FrankRobinson card. The consignment node user then takes possession of thecard and may affix the bar code label to an appropriate cardholder. Itshould be noted by the consignment node user may again “add value” tohis consignment node by entering subjective criteria in the databaseentry for authenticity, condition, special attributes and the like. Theparticipant or local resident may now electronically present his FrankRobinson card to any consignment node, consignment node auction orconsignment node market maker in the consignment node network.

These processes may be repeated again and again to establish asubstantial database of goods for sale. It should be noted that theconsignment node user may at his discretion take postings from reputabledealers or collectors via a facsimile machine or other forms ofelectronic or verbal presentment of a good for sale. It is within thesound discretion of an individual consignment node user to establishthese practices. It is within the scope of the invention, however, totake electronic postings from other consignment node users orindividuals over the network, as discussed below. Each consignment nodeuser may be a franchisee of a central franchiser and the franchiser maypolice the network to give quality control, detect fraud and revoke thefranchises or licenses of poor quality consignment node users. Thus, theconsignment node is a “trusted” network for consignment node usersproviding value to the network by imposing a quality and performancestructure on the consignment nodes. The same franchise enforcementscheme is also available to the low cost posting terminal embodiment tothe present invention.

The Sale

A buyer, hereinafter participant, may electronically log onto aconsignment node via a network connection by use of a PC withparticipant interface software, through an interactive televisionapplication, workstation, internet browser or the like. The networkconnection drivers for the consignment node are discussed in detailbelow. The participant may enter the browse node and peruse theconsignment node database of goods. It is understood that theparticipant may receive the image taken with a digital camera 12 of thegoods at the participant terminal. The participant, upon finding forexample the above-posted Frank Robinson card may decide to purchase thecard. The participant may present electronic payment to the consignmentnode by entering a credit card number and expiration date or other formsof electronic payment. It is understood that a secure and/or encryptedmeans may be established between a participant's interface applicationand a consignment node to transfer sensitive or theft prone information.Moreover, a participant may establish an account with his localconsignment node to be debited and credited with the funds used andgenerated with his transactions.

The consignment node may, for example, clear the transaction by chargingthe participant's charge card account and crediting the consignment nodestore account by well-known credit card clearing techniques. After theconsignment node has cleared the transaction the system electronicallytransfers ownership of the Frank Robinson card to the participant. Theparticipant may then be presented with the choice of directing thedelivery of the Frank Robinson card to a desired location or may chooseto post a new reserve or offer price for the card and direct the card toremain in the possession of the consignment node user. Thus, theconsignment node allows a participant to speculate on the price of theFrank Robinson card and establishes an electronic market for the FrankRobinson card. It is understood that the consignment node may have manyFrank Robinson cards available, thus by the interaction of collectorselectronically buying and selling the collectibles it will establish amarket price for a Frank Robinson card or any other good. For eachtransaction, the consignment node user extracts the small consignmentfee, e.g., 6% of the sales price, thus the consignment node userdirectly benefits from operating a reputable consignment node. If theparticipant elects to take delivery of the purchased goods then theconsignment node may track the delivery and ownership of this good tothis particular participant in a data record. This data record may beuseful to speed the posting of the good, should the participant laterdecide to re-post and sell the good, and it also creates a valuabledatabase of records to track the possession and ownership of acollectable. This feature may be useful in the agent mode, e.g.,tracking down very hard to find items, discussed more fully below.

The Auction

For a rare good, a good in a volatile market, or a good's initialposting the consignment node user or participant may wish to auction thegood, with or without reserve, to the highest bidder. In this mode, thegood may be posted on the consignment node by the means described abovebut the data record representing the good is identified as waiting foran auction date and may not be purchased on the electronic market.Alternatively, an item may be in the electronic market of theconsignment node with a high reserve price that may be lowered in theauction or liquidation mode. Here the consignment node user or thegood's participant owner may enter a protected data field a confidentialreserve price for the auction mode. The consignment node user arrangesby invoking the appropriate consignment node program a time and date foran electronic auction. The consignment node user or good's participantowner may establish, in a data record that represents the good, a desirefor the item to be auctioned. For example, a pawnshop operator of aconsignment node may have several Rolex watches he wishes to auctionwith reserve this Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. The consignment node user,here a pawnshop, identifies on the Rolex watch records the auction dateand the confidential reserve price. The consignment node system may“advertise” auction dates, items and auction terms in the consignmentnode log on welcome message discussed below. Moreover, a good that isidentified as awaiting an auction date may be viewed before auction inthe consignment node browse mode by a perspective auction participant.

At the auction date, perspective participants log onto the consignmentnode auction mode locally or through the consignment node network andawait the first good to be auctioned. It is understood that in the bestmode of the invention the participant will have a data terminal with adigital to analog converter such as a “sound blaster” and speaker, thedigital to analog capability may be used in the auction mode to bringthe aural excitement of an auction, e.g., the call of the heckler, thecaller and bidders, home to the auction participant. This is discussedin more detail below.

The consignment node takes the first item to be auctioned and posts theimage of the good and the good's text record to the participants. Theconsignment node then posts the opening bid. It is understood that thebid postings may be in a protocol that invokes the generation of anauctioneer's voice at the participant terminals. The participants maythen respond with a higher bid. The consignment node mode scanselectronically the participants for bids and accepts the highest bid. Ifbids are tied the consignment node may take the first highest bid by theparticipants log on order. A particular bidding participant receives aspecial acknowledgment from the consignment node that her bid wasaccepted. The consignment node then posts the higher bid to all theelectronic auction participants. The consignment node repeats thisprocess until no higher bid is received for a predetermined amount oftime and closes the auctioning of that particular good. The consignmentnode then checks whether the highest bid received is greater than thereserve price, if appropriate. The consignment node may then post sold!and the sell price to all participant terminals and proceed to post thenext item for auction. Again a successful purchaser may elect to directdelivery of the good or post the good on the electronic market at a newparticipant determined offer price.

It is understood that the terms of the auction sale are posted andagreed to by the participants before allowing a participant to bid ongoods in compliance with local requirements and statutes. It is alsounderstood that a participant may make electronic payment for the goodsor establish a line of credit or collect on delivery terms within aparticular consignment node user's discretion. This may be establishedby a relationship between a local consignment node user and a localparticipant at the local consignment user's discretion.

It should be noted that a consignment node user may sell virtualadvertising space or a central master node e.g., the franchiser, maycoordinate the sale of advertising space on a pool of consignment nodesto reach target market participants. For example, if a participant haspurchased or speculated in antique pens, and advertisers of an antiquepen specially consignment node wishes to target market individuals onthe network who have purchased collectable pens in the past. A centralcoordinated master node may sell advertising to an advertiser for thelog on message or e-mail targeted participants and users. Thus, thenetwork of consignment nodes can establish a market for target marketingor blanketed advertising of goods and services sold locally or on anetwork level by a central node.

The Agent

The Agent Mode allows a consignment node participant to search aplurality of consignment nodes and purchase records for a used good. Aparticipant may log onto his local consignment node to shop. Thisparticipant, for example, may be interested in purchasing a particularused coin for her collection. The participant may invoke a consignmentnode Agent to search the network of consignment nodes for this coin. Theparticipant fills in the search parameters for this coin, for example, a1872 U.S. penny from the Denver Mint. The consignment node Agent taskhandler verifies the Agent form is sufficiently filled out and acceptsthe task. The Agent checks a list of other consignment nodes networkaddresses kept by the local consignment node database and generates anAgent communication message to each consignment node on the list andbegins to establish communications to the other consignment nodes. AnAgent message between consignment nodes begins by coordinating orreconciling the database on each consignment node of the locationsand/or address of other consignment nodes. If a consignment node has adifferent list of consignment nodes in its database it will pass thenode update information to the other consignment node. The consignmentnode originating the Agent task will generate a new Agent task toaccommodate the information concerning the new consignment node. Oncethe consignment node database of consignment nodes is reconciled, theAgent will search the consignment node database for the goods requested.The Agent will report back whether the search of the local marketdatabase was successful and how many good that matches the Agent searchrequest it found. An Agent may also search the consignment node databaseof past transactions to identify an owner of a particular good. TheAgent may then report that John Doe of Main Street, U.S.A. was the lastknown purchaser of a 1872 U.S. penny from the Denver Mint at this node.It is understood that differing levels of privacy are available toconsignment node purchasers, so as only allowing the local consignmentnode user to view past purchaser information and/or provide the Agentwith an option of contacting that consignment user so he may contact theprior purchaser, thus, protecting privacy while allowing bona fideoffers to reach the prior purchaser in confidence.

Once some of the Agents start reporting back to the Agent originatingconsignment node, the originating consignment node may report theresults to the consignment node participant of the Agents' results. Suchresults may give the total number of matching items found thus providingthe local participant/collector an indication of the depth of thismarket. It is understood that a local consignment node user may chargeparticipants for Agent requests.

Computer Implementation

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a consignment nodemay use a multitasking operating system such as UNIX, OS/2, NT or VMS.However, a Microsoft DOS or Windows implementation is within the scopeof the present invention. The consignment node may be networked viaTCP/IP and the internet or a private TCP/IP network or X.25 private orpublic network or service providers network of ISDN, ATM and the like.It is understood, that a consignment node may support a plurality ofprotocols simultaneously. Moreover, it is understood that theparticipant interface application program may execute on a wide varietyof platforms such as PC's, MAC's, Power PC's, workstations, cableset-top boxes, video game hardware and the like and are within the scopeof the present invention. The posting terminal embodiment is discussedin detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the consignment node of the present invention may have acomputer 10, a data storage device 22, a tape drive 24, a digital camera12, a bar code scanner 14, a display 16, a keyboard 18, a laser printer20, and a network connection 26. A participant user terminal is shown at28.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram showing the logic flow of a userlog in at a consignment node.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the logical flow of theconsignment node auction process.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the logical flow of theconsignment node market or browse mode.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the logical flow for postinga new used good on the consignment node.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a subroutine that may be used to postauction bids.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a subroutine that may be used by theconsignment node auction process to receive participant auction bids.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the logical flow for a subroutinethat may be used to transfer ownership of an item.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the logical flow for a consignmentnode in-store sale of a good.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the logical flow ofpost-processing and analyzing consignment node sales.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the logical flow of theconsignment node Agent handler subroutine.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the posting terminal to market makercomputer connections.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a user interface on a posting terminal orconsignment node.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

It is understood that the get session identification procedure 100 is aroutine that monitors the communication ports and virtual communicationports residing on protocol stack. The consignment node may use, forexample, a X.25 interface card, available from Eicon Corporation orFrontier Corporation to execute an X.25 protocol stack in a PCworkstation. The get session identification 100 program may monitor theX.25 protocol for incoming calls. If the program identifies an incomingcall it may answer the call by transmitting the appropriate X.25 packetto the network on the appropriate virtual channel. It is understood thatother protocols, such as TCP/IP, DECNET, SNA and ATM are within thescope of the present invention and that multiple protocol stacks maysimultaneously execute in a consignment node. Therefore, the get sessionidentification program 100 may have multiple instances to connect andmonitor the various protocols. After the get session identification 100has appropriately answered an incoming call to the consignment node, itmay invoke the display welcome message and menu routine 102.

It is understood that the get session identification 100 providessufficient information to the display welcome message and menu 102 toallow the display welcome message and menu 102 to connect to theappropriate session or virtual channel. At this juncture, if theparticipant is using an approved interface program, the interfaceprogram will send a predetermined code to indicate its version and othercharacteristics of its display driver. If a participant is logging infrom a TTY terminal or other terminal the display welcome message andmenu 102 may detect this information and send the appropriate TTYwelcome message. This procedure may also be used to identify featuresand languages supported on various internet world wide web browsers. Itis understood that the welcome message is viewed by the consignment nodeuser as virtual advertising space that may be sold by the consignmentnode user or coordinated with the master control node (discussed indetail below). The participant may respond to the display welcomemessage and menu 102 program by giving an appropriate log on response104. The get log on response 104 may verify and grant a level of accessprivileges to the participant. It is understood that the consignmentnode user may require the get log in response 104 to retrieve a creditcard number, pin number, user ID and the like, to grant accessprivileges. If a participant is using a TTY terminal those sessions maybe shunted to the download interface program (DIP) 106 routine toreceive an appropriate interface program from the consignment node. TheDIP 106 may present a list of choices as to what version interfaceprogram should be downloaded, such as DOS, Windows, UNIXMAC platformsand what transfer program is desired such as Kermit, Xmodem, FTP and thelike. A participant with a participant interface program may also electto receive a new interface program from the DIP 106. It is understoodthat an older, no longer supported interface program participant may beshunted to the DIP 106 to receive a new interface program.

A participant with a supported interface program may select the auction108, market 110 or agent handler 112 sections of the consignment node.If a participant selects auction 108 the participant may be presentedwith a menu of auction selections such as auctions in session, futureauction times, dates, locations and topics, and auction preview. If aparticipant selects auctions in session the participants' session ispassed to the appropriate auction handler, as discussed below. If aparticipant selects future auctions the participant will be given a listof future auction times, dates, terms, locations and topics of auctionson this and other consignment nodes. It is understood that thesedisplays represent a virtual advertising opportunity for the consignmentnode user and the advertising space may be sold by the consignment nodeuser or by the master control node. If the participant selects theauction preview, the auction process 108 passes the participant sessionto the market session 110 with data that indicates an auction previewdesired by the user.

If the participant selects the market 110 choice the participant isgiven a menu of markets that the participants may browse, discussedfurther below. If the participant selects the agent handler 112 theparticipant may be provided with an electronic form to create a searchfor a good. The participant may then execute this Agent's search requestto search the network of consignment nodes databases to look for thedesired goods. The Agent is discussed more fully below. The AgentHandler 112 also receives incoming calls from other agents to processthe external agents search request on the consignment node. Theparticipant interface and consignment node participant functions arediscussed in detail below. It is understood that the agent may alsofunction between virtual markets on a market maker computer and with thetransaction archive database discussed below. The discussion now turnsto the operation of the consignment node by the user.

FIG. 3 shows a logical flow diagram of the steps the consignment nodemay use to create a database record of a good for sale or for auction.

The consignment node user may invoke the consignment node program toenter the posting 200 mode to create a data record for the good. Theposting 200 mode initializes 204 the consignment node to receiveinformation on a new good. The initialization 204 step displays a datarecord with data fields on the consignment node terminal for the user tofill in information on the good. The initialization step 204 alsoinitializes the consignment node peripheral devices such as the digitalcamera 12 and the printer 20. The consignment node user then“photographs” or digitizes the image of the good from one or moreperspectives as well known to the digital camera arts. The consignmentnode receives the digitized image(s) at receive image 206 step. Theconsignment node program then prompts the consignment node user forinformation on the good 208. The consignment node receives information210 that the consignment node user inputs to the data record displayedat step 208. The consignment node program verifies 212 that thenecessary information, such as owners name, reserve price, market orauction designation is in the data record. The verify step 212 willreject the record and return the consignment node user data entry mode210 if the record does not have the minimum information. If the recordis verified 212 as complete enough to commit to the consignment nodedatabase, a data record is created 214 and linked into the consignmentnode database. The consignment node program then generates and prints abar code 216 that indicated the data record. The bar code system is usedby the consignment node to maintain an accurate inventory and is a hookfor local sales (discussed below). The posting routine may then exit 218and return from the posting program. By repeating the posting routine ofFIG. 3 the consignment node user may build a database of goods for theconsignment node market, auction and/or agent searches.

FIG. 4 shows the logical block flow diagram of the processes theconsignment node may take to execute an auction. It is understood thatthe consignment node user may manually invoke the auction process, ormay schedule the consignment node to execute the auction process. Theauction process begins by initializing 250 the data structures, records,queues and the like to conduct the auction process. The connectionbetween the auction process and auction participants is discussed below.The auction process gets the first item to be auctioned 252 from thedatabase of goods to be auctioned 254. The consignment node thencalculates the opening bid 256 by a predetermined formula such as 50% ofthe reserve or general solicitation of an opening bid is posted to theauction participants 258. The consignment node auction mode then scansthe participants for a higher bids 262. If a higher bid is found the newbid is posted 264. It is understood that the steps of checking for bids260 determines if the bid is higher 262 and posting the new higher bid264 is repeated until no higher bids are received. After the typicalauction closing of going once . . . twice . . . three times the auctionis closed 266. The consignment node auction program then compares thehighest bid received with the good's reserve price 268 to determinewhether to transact the sale. If the highest bid is greater than thereserve price the consignment node auction process posts sold! for xxxamount to the auction participants and calls the transfer ownershipsubroutine 270, discussed further below, and transfers the ownership ofthe good. If the highest bid is less than the reserve price theconsignment node auction process announces no sale! 272 to the auctionparticipants. The auction process then proceeds 274 to get the next goodto be auctioned 278. The consignment node auction process is thenrepeated until all the goods to be auctioned have been run through 278.The consignment node auction may then close and terminate theparticipant sessions 280. It is understood that the transfer ownership270 sub-routine may require time to clear the transaction and,therefore, may be best implement as a spawned child process to theauction process. This will keep the consignment node auction executingat an exciting and fast pace for the participants. The consignment nodeauction process itself may execute in several instances to providesimultaneous auctions on a consignment node. Thus a consignment node mayconduct several simultaneous auctions on several virtual runways. It isunderstood that in the auction mode the consignment node and theparticipant interface software may communicate using a protocol thatallows the consignment node auction driver to “point to” locationsstored in the participant interface software, to cause the participantinterface software to generate the sound of a auctioneers voice on thesound blaster, or equivalent board. Thus, the present invention usespre-stored sound samples of different auction prices and auctioneer“string” along aural calls inside the participant interface software,and allows the generation of said pre-stored sound bites to be invokedby the consignment node driver through the said special protocol. Thismethod greatly reduces the bandwidth necessary for a consignment node tosupport the generation of exciting auctioneers calls at a plurality ofparticipant terminals. It is understood that the generation of an audiobit stream from the consignment node to the participant terminals isalso with the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows the logical flow for the post bid subroutine 300. The postbid sub-routine may be invoked from several consignment node processes,those specifically described thus far are the post opening bid 258 andposting bid 264 logical processes. The post bid 300 sub-routine is usedto communicate between a consignment node and multiple participants. Thepost bid 300 sub-routine gets participant session identifications 302from a data record or data structure that contains a list of sessionidentifications of participants who have logged onto the auctionsessions. The next step sends the bid passed to the post bid 300subroutine to each participant session identified in the data structure306. Bids are posted to each participant through an appropriate driver308. The driver may be identified for each particular user session. Forexample, a PC user logged into the consignment node via an X.25 virtualchannel may require a host PAD driver in the consignment node tocommunicate asynchronously to the PC terminal interface application. Anetwork user may require a TCP/IP driver to connect between theconsignment node and the participant networked terminal. Aftercommunicating the bid to participants through the appropriate devicedriver 308, the post bid sub-routine may exit and return 310 to thecalling routine.

FIG. 6 shows the consignment node subroutine to check participantsessions for bids during the auction mode. Check for bids 350 maybe asubroutine called by the auction program to scan for bids. It isunderstood that when a participant logs into the consignment node andselects the auction mode, (see FIG. 2), the participant's sessionidentification is passed to a data structure. The data structure maybeused by the check for bids 350 sub-routine to correctly identifyparticipants at a particular virtual auction. As noted above, theconsignment node may support multiple simultaneous auctions, therefore,may require multiple instances of the aforesaid data structure. Thecheck for bids sub-routine 350 opens or connects to the appropriate datastructure storing or holding participant session identifications who areparticipating in the check for bids calling auction program instance atthe get session identification step 352. The buffers associated witheach session is scanned for an input 354. If a participant has input an“exit” command or symbol 356 the routine removes that participant'ssession identification from the auction identifying data structure andallows the participant to exit 362 the auction. The participant'ssession identification may be returned to a data structure that allowsthe participant to return to the consignment nodes main menu, see FIG.2, or terminate the participant session. The subroutine then comparesthe bids and takes the highest bid 358. If bids are tied for the highestbid the sub-routine may use the first received bid and reject the others358. The sub-routine then notifies the participant session who had thehighest bid 360. It is understood that the take the highest bid step 358and notify bidder step 360 are aware of the current bid price for a goodand will not allow a lower bid to be accepted. It is understood that theparticipant session buffers are flushed after they are scanned to removeold or latent bids. The check for bids sub-routine then returns to itscalling routine.

FIG. 7 shows the transfer ownership routine 400 that may be used totransfer the ownership of goods and collectibles in the consignmentnode. The transfer ownership sub-routine may be called from severalconsignment node modes and processes to effect the transfer of legalownership. The first step in the transfer ownership sub-routine 400 maybe to verify a participant purchaser information 402. It is understoodthat the consignment node may use a variety of well known authenticatingprocedures to verify a participant, such verification techniques includepersonal identification numbers (PINS), passwords, call back, and aplethora of encryption techniques and personal informationidentification means to provide a reliable verification technique. It isunderstood that a consignment node user may have established a credit ordeposit account for the participant from past sales or the transfer offunds and the verify step 402 may connect the participant to theaccount. The clear charge 404 step is used to clear the participantconsignment node transaction. It is understood that this may be via anexternal credit card clearing network, a connection to a credit account,or though one of the many proposed electronic fund transfer schemes suchas debit cards, e-money, and clearinghouses. After the transactionclears the charge 404, the consignment node credits the consignment nodeusers commission account 406 to extract the consignment node transactionfee. The consignment node then transfers legal ownership 408 of the goodby changing the ownership entry in the data record in the consignmentnode of the good. The consignment node may then print a record of thetransaction 410. It is understood that step 410 may also be used to keepa log on the consignment node storage or tape drive. The consignmentnode then removes the good from sale or auction status 412. It isunderstood that the data record representing the good is “locked” duringthe transfer ownership sub-routine to prevent collisions of actions andtransfers of the good. If the participant has elected to ship goods thenthe consignment node will print a shipping label 404 for the consignmentnode user to attach to the good for shipment. The transfer ownershiproutine may then exit 416. If the participant has elected to re-post thegood or collectable the participant may specify a new reserve or offerprice for the good or collectable. It is understood that the purchasingparticipant may elect to leave the good or collectable at theconsignment node and post a new offer or reserve price and may identifythat the good is on the market, e.g. may be bought and sold at any time,or that the good is awaiting an auction date. Moreover, the participantmay elect to have the good viewable on the market or “invisible” to themarket while awaiting an auction date 422. It is understood that theparticipant may elect to leave the good at the purchased consignmentnode and electronically transfer the offering of a good to anotherconsignment node. It is understood that consignment node users may run a“trusted” network between consignment nodes to provide the trust betweenmerchants, that the goods exists and that the network between theconsignment nodes to provide for electronic presentment of a good is asecure network connection. This allows collectable goods to beconcentrated for a single electronic auction or virtual collectablemarket on a market maker consignment node without incurring the costs ofshipping the goods to a central location to bring the good to the marketmaker consignment node. It is understood that the trusted posting ofgoods on a market maker node is a value added feature a small townconsignment node user can provide to his immediate collector community.It is understood that the master central node may also serve as a legalconsignment node franchising authority to provide enforcement ofintegrity, security and quality control for the consignment nodenetwork.

FIG. 8 shows the consignment node routine that may be used to establisha virtual market. The market 450 may be selected from the consignmentnode main menu, see FIG. 2, to allow a participant to browse theconsignment node goods database. The market 450 will display to theparticipant market categories 452, categories may be defined by theconsignment node user to reflect the specialization of his consignmentnode and the specialized markets or miscellaneous markets for his goods.The consignment node then gets the participants response 454 to themarket choices. The consignment node may then display marketsub-categories 456. Again, the consignment node user may specify marketsub-categories to reflect the specialization of the consignment node.The consignment node may then display items 458 and get the participantor market user response 460 to the displayed choices. It is understoodthat the participant may browse or scroll through the goods on themarket 462,458,460 until the participant responds with a desire to exitthe market 463. If the response is a desire to transfer to the marketroot directory 464 then the consignment node will return the participantto the market subcategories 456. If the participant responded with adesire to terminate the session 466 the consignment node will exit themarket and terminate the participant's session. It is understood thatduring the browse loop 458, 460, 462 a participant may elect to buy ormake an offer on a good and may invoke the transfer ownership routine,see FIG. 7, to effect the transfer of a good's ownership. It is alsounderstood that a participant may make an offer on a good below theasking (or offered) price. Such a proposed offer may be stored by theconsignment node and used to notify the good owner. The good owner maythen accept the counter offer or reject. It is understood that aparticipant counter-offer may be made subject to an acceptance beforedate. It is also understood that a participant may establish a “buy at”or “sell at” price/quantity for any good in the market.

FIG. 9 shows a logical flow diagram of the process that may be use totransact the transfer of ownership of goods on a consignment node at thestore where a consignment node may be located. The consignment node userinvokes the store sale sub-routine 500 from a consignment node userterminal, see FIG. 1. The consignment node user may use the bar codescanner to scan the bar code of the good for sale 502. It is understoodthat the consignment node user may manually recall or search theconsignment node database for the data record of the good or may let theconsignment node software use the bar code to automatically retrieve therecord 504. The data record is then scanned to retrieve price and saleinformation on the good 506. It is important to note that a good, whileon display at a consignment node user's shop may have transferredownership and changed price via network participants. The consignmentnode then displays this information 508 at the consignment node userterminal. The store customer may then elect to purchase the good. Theconsignment node may process a store customer purchase request bycalling the appropriate sub-routine to transfer ownership, see FIG. 7,of the good.

FIG. 10 shows a logical process diagram for the central node to collectand process data concerning transactions on a plurality of consignmentnodes and provide value added feed back to consignment node users onmarket positions and trends. Data processing 550 may be executed on aconsignment node or the central node to extract transaction data from aconsignment node. It is understood that the tape drive, or storagedevice may be used to log network transactions on the posting,auctioning, buying and selling of goods and collectibles on aconsignment node. This information may be collected by the central nodeover the consignment node network. The central node may then plot sales,sale date, price over time and the like to create graphs of marketperformance 554. It is understood that the data correlation andprocessing steps 554, 556 may be customized to provide a particularconsignment node user with useful market information. The central nodemay also provide hard copies or electronically transfer the informationto the consignment node users. It is understood that this may be a valueadded feature of a service that may be provided by a franchiser. It isunderstood that the central node may log into a consignment node, withwell known remote processing and data transfer techniques such as thelogon and FTP UNIX utilities to make changes to the aforesaid virtualadvertising space on a consignment node.

FIG. 11 shows the agent handler the consignment node may use toestablish agent-to-agent and consignment node-to-consignment nodeconnections to process participant agent requests. The agent handler 600may be entered by a predetermined series of codes and verificationprocedures to verify a request for an agent connection to theconsignment node is from a bonafide agent and a bona fide consignmentnode. Once this is verified the agent handler may establish a sessionfor the requesting agent 602. The requesting agent may then transfer itsagents request to the consignment node 604 and the consignment node maythen check its local database 606 to try to match the agents searchrequest. The agent handler may then respond to the agents request 608and terminate the agent session 610.

A second embodiment to the present invention, shown in FIG. 12, uses alow cost portable “posting” terminal to allow the virtual presentment ofgoods to market. The posting terminal has a digital camera, a bar codeprinter, a bar code scanner, a modem and posting terminal software. Theposting terminal works in conjunction with a market maker computer. Themarket maker computer has a database of goods for sale, aposting/de-posting communication handler, a database to world wide web(www) mapping module, a www server, a transaction process, a postingterminal communication manager, a sold database, a shipping database andan account database and has much of the functionality of the previouslydescribed consignment node.

The posting terminal and market maker computer functional block diagramis shown in FIG. 12. The posting terminal has a camera interface 701,and image processing module 702, a record maker module 704, a storageunit 710, for storing images and records that have not been posted, apost module 712, a select records module 714, a post request module 716,a print bar code module 718, a get mail module 720, a storage unit forholding posted records and return codes 722, a de-post module 724, a getcode module 726, and de-post request module 728, a bar code scannerinterface 730, another instance of the get mail module 720, a mail salesroutine 738, a print shipping label routine 740, a notify store routine740, and a check sales module 734. The posting terminal 700 contacts amarket maker computer 800 to check sales, to post goods, to de-postgoods and to receive mail. The posting terminal 700 is easier toadministrate than a consignment node because it behaves like a retailpoint-of-sale terminal to manage goods that have been posted and arelocally sold. The bar code labeling and scanning routines and methodsmake it easy for the posting terminal user to maintain an accurateaccount of what goods have been posted, de-posted, sold and/or shipped.The posting terminal may use an MS-DOS or MS-WINDOWS operating systemthat is much easier for a small store owner to operate and administerthan a complex multi-user system like UNIX or WINDOWS NT.

The posting terminal 700 functionality begins with a user taking adigital picture with the posting terminal digital camera and connectingthe digital camera to the camera interface module 701. The user selectsan icon on a graphical user interface generated by the posting terminalsoftware to pull the digital pictures from the digital camera. It isunderstood that other input devices such as scanners and the like may beuse in place of the digital camera. The image process module 702 mayconvert the digital picture to a compressed data format such, as JPEG orMPEG, more suitable for communication of the image across a data link.It is understood that the image may keep it's full resolution forposting. The posting terminal then invokes the record maker routine 704.The record maker routine 704 may display the image or allow the user toselect an image from storage unit 710. The record maker may display on aposting terminal display a data entry record with pre-defined textfields, number fields, “buttons,” knobs and other graphical userinterface objects to allow a user to enter data to complete a postingrecord.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a graphical user interface that may bepresented to a posting terminal 700 user. The graphical user interfacefor the posting terminal 700 may include an image of the itemrepresented by the record 920, a description of the item 922, and 924,the “push button” commands to receive pictures from the digital camera926, to post a record 928, to clear a local sale 930, to de-post arecord 932, to access files of records 934, to view and/or receive andsend mail 938, a database category field 940 with a pull down selectionbar 942, a database subcategory 944 with a pull down selection bar 946,a code field 948, a posting date field 950, a store identification 951,a market designator field 954, a description field 956, a reserve orwholesale price field 958, and identifier 960, a retail or full pricefield 962 and identifier 964. The category 940 and sub-category 944 datafields are restricted to selections that can be made by the respectivepull down bars 942 and 946. This aids the posting terminal operator inselecting the correct market for the good when creating a record andassures that all records can properly link into a market computer 900market database. A file may be stored at posting terminal 700 thatcorresponds to database structure at the market maker computer 800.Having the database structure in a file at posting terminal 700 mayallow the posting terminal to receive updates by remote file transfertechniques, such as the KERMIT, FTP, xmodem and ymodem protocols. It isunderstood that certain selections from the market category 940 andsubcategory fields may be “greyed” or that is blocked from selection bya posting terminal 700 user to enforce a franchise and/or license grantthat only allows posting in a certain field. This may allow afranchising scheme that restricts a franchisee to a field of use and/orcategory of goods. The code field 948 displays the bar code data in textform that the market maker computer 900 sends to the posting terminal700 when a record is successfully posted. Therefore, the code field 948can serve as a quick visual confirmation to the posting terminal userthat the displayed record has been posted. The market field 952 may alsobe a restricted selection field accessible by pull down selection bar954. Fields selectable by the market field 952 may include auction,onsale, hold and the like to give additional directionality to therecord posting. The price 964 and reserve price fields 958 may be usedto structure the two-tiered market of dealer-to-dealer and retailmarkets. The reserve price identifier 960 and reserve price field 958may be hidden from view to retail participants. A dealer may be providedwith special logon identifications and passwords to view the reserveprice 958 and reserve price indicator 960. This feature encouragesfranchisees to use the electronic market for collectable goods dealerparticipant interface to generate local sales.

The posting terminal 700 user enters descriptions such as the name ofthe item, the sale price of the item, and a brief description of theitem and the like to compose a record. It is understood that a postingterminal user may enter a retail price and a wholesale price. The retailprice may then be displayed to participants 900. Other retailparticipants 902 may receive the wholesale price. It is understood thatthis two-tiered pricing scheme may be used to network retail storeowners to provide additional incentives for the retail participants touse the network to locate goods and generate sales at the retail pointof sale. For example, a retailer may charge the retail price for goodsto store customers, while obtaining the benefits, e.g. the profit marginof wholesale or discounted pricing for goods. It is understood that therestricted fields are coordinated with the structure of the For-Saledatabase 814 to guide a posting terminal 700 user in the properselection of a market category and subcategory of the posting of a good.Categories may include jewelry, rugs and tapestry, tools, quilts,furniture, art deco, books, pens, coins, stamps and costumes andclothing. Subcategories may include painting and drawings, sculpture,vintage clothing, costumes, shoes, bags, hats, wedding gowns, furs, rugtypes and the like to structure the database. The user may also selectfrom a list box what category and sub-category from restricted fields inwhich to post a good. Referring back to FIG. 12, the user may store acomposed record on the storage device 710. The record maker routine mayalso contain a command button 706 to immediately post the record 708. Itis understood that the user may designate a time at which the postingterminal 700 may automatically contact the market maker computer 800 andpost the selected goods. The post request 716 module may allow a user toselect records from storage unit 710 or as in the case where the userselected the immediate post command 708, the post module 712 may accepta record as an input. The ability of the posting terminal 700 to storeand select records for posting asynchronously from when a record iscreated allows a user to compose records when the posting terminal isisolated from communication with a market maker computer 800. The postmodule 712 may invoke the post request module 716 to post the designatedrecords on the market and make a virtual presentment of a good. Rulesand procedures may be imposed on the posting terminal 700 user throughlicensing and franchise agreements. Such rules may include therequirement that all goods posted must be in the physical and legalpossession of the posting terminal franchisee or licensee, that legalpossession of a good may be obtained by lawful ownership or through afranchise approved bailment or consignment contract. It is understoodthat these rules and legal frame work may be imposed to allow the postedrecord to convey a legal title to a good such that the ownershipdesignated in the record grants lawful ownership to the good designatedby the record. The post request module 716 may use a communicationpackage and protocols to transfer the records to the market makercomputer 800. Communication libraries are packaged and are commerciallyavailable from WCSC 2740 S. Dairy Ashfor, Suite 188, Houston Tex. 77077and from Marshallsoft Computing, Inc. at P.O. Box 4543 Huntsville, Ala.35815. The communication protocols such as FTP and KERMIT may beenhanced by using known encryption and authentication techniques toprovide an ultra-secure posting interface. The posting record may alsoinclude a header that identifies a store identification, useridentification, passwords and the like to allow the market makercomputer 800 to verify authenticity, approve authorization and trackusage of the posting terminal 700 by a particular posting terminal 700and posting terminal user.

The market maker computer 800 may verify and accept a record andgenerate and send a unique bar code number for each record. The bar codenumber may contain a code that identifies a posting terminal 700. Theposting terminal accepts the bar code and places the code in theappropriate record. The unique code generated for each successfullyposted record may serve as confirmation that a good has beensuccessfully posted. The record may then be stored on storage unit 722as a confirmed posted record. When the posting terminals' post requestmodule 716 is finished, the posting terminal 700 or the market makercomputer 800 may invoke a mail update routine 720 to pass mail from themarket maker computer 800 to the posting terminal 700. Mail topics mayinclude sales information 734, network news 736, and notification ofupcoming events 738. The de-post module 724 may use the bar code scanner730 to receive a posted collectible's identification code. The de-postmodule 724 may call the de-post request routine 728 to establishcommunications between the posting terminal 700 and the market makercomputer 800. The de-post request module 728 sends the item brcollectible bar code to the post/de-post handler 802. The post/de-posthandler 802 may remove the collectible identified by the bar code fromthe for-sale database 814, if the de-posting terminal identification haslegal title to the identified collectible as indicated in a for-salerecord, the market maker computer 800 may send a de-post confirm code tothe posting terminal 700. The posting terminal 700 may process theconfirm signal by indicating that the de-posting procedures wasperformed. If legal title to the posted collectible good does not belongto the de-posting requesting entity, e.g., the de-posting terminal 700then indicated by the posting terminal identification, the market makercomputer 800 may report the collectible good status, e.g., sold!, to thede-post request module 728. This may indicate to the posting terminaluser that a bailee relationship now exists between the store and the newlegal owner. It is understood that this bailee relationship may becontractually created and enforced through the franchise contractbetween the posting terminal user and the franchise granting authority.It is also understood that the bailee agreement may be for apredetermined time and/or require the posting terminal user to hold agood for a predetermined time and/or ship the good to a long termstorage facility to ease the bailee burden of posting terminal userswhere a participant elects to hold legal ownership but keep the goodavailable in the electronic market place for the long term. It isunderstood that a bond and/or insurance requirements may be required forthe posting terminal user and/or the long term storage facility toprovide assurance to a long term collectible investor that the risk ofloss of the collectable good asset is maintained or at least hedgedagainst loss. It is understood that a good may have sold and the newowner has elected to re-sell the good at a higher price. In thisinstance, the de-posting terminal will be advised that the good has beensold and advised of the new sales price. The posting terminal may thentransact the local sale at the new price. After the de-post requestmodule 728 is finished it may invoke or the market maker computer 800may invoke the get mail routine 720 to send mail between the marketmaker computer 800 and the posting terminal 700. It is understood thatthrough the procedures of generating a unique code for each posted good,checking a unique code that identifies each posting terminal 700 againstthe legal owner entry in a posted good on the market maker computer 800the database of for-sale goods 814 will be extremely reliable andaccurate and assure that a locally sold goods that have already beensold on the market maker computer 800 will not be inadvertently soldtwice. The procedures, when used in conjunction with the rules andprocedures imposed on the posting terminal user through a franchising orlicensing legal framework assure that (1) when a record of a good isfound on the market maker computer 800 by a participant 900 or anotherretailer 902, it is in fact for-sale and is in the physical and legalpossession of a “trusted” franchise and (2) that when a bona fidepurchase price is tendered by a participant 900 or another retailer 902the legal title to a good as represented by the record will transfer tothe buyer with an immediate or nearly immediate finality to thetransaction. This frame work of trusted franchisee, high confidence andaccurate market database, and the legal finality of transaction, wherethe legal transaction/“cash” clearing function is performed by themarket maker computer, e.g., the participant credit card number or otherpayment means is only revealed and brokered by the market maker computer800, is a massive step toward building confidence and trust between asmall collectable merchant and participant with electronic transactions.These procedures may be used to give assurances and create trust toparticipants, who for example would like to buy and art deco collectablefrom a collectable shop in Russia but is very reluctant to send creditcard information to an unknown Russian collectable shop for the obviousconcerns of credit card fraud and/or fraud in the bona fides of thecollectable good itself. Here, however, the franchising authoritypolices the franchisees to revoke the franchise if a fraud and/ormisrepresentations of the bona fides of a collectable good is takingplace by the posting terminal user and the assurance that credit cardnumbers are only revealed to the market maker computer 800 and notaccessible to the, in this example, the Russian collectable store. Thisallows the Russian collectible store to receive the business good willof the electronic collectible market place of the present invention toestablish immediate trust with prospective electronic customers.

The market maker computer 800 may have mail module 801, a post/de-posthandler module 802, a security module 804, database server 806, adatabase to www map module 808, a www page server 810, a transactionprocessor 812, a for-sale database 814, a sold database 816, a shippeddatabase 820, and an account database 824. A www to database mapping 808module is commercially available from Expertelligence, Inc., SantaBarbara, Calif. at (805) 962-2558. Such a mapping module may map a ODBCdatabase such as Microsoft Access to a www page. The market makercomputer 800 may serve four primary functions. The first function is thecall handler for processing calls from a posting terminals 700. Thesecond function is a database to www mapping function to presentparticipants 900 and other retailers 902 with a means to access themarket database. The third function is to provide a means to processtransactions from participants by clearing a transaction andtransferring legal title to a good. The fourth function is to provide ameans for managing the notification of the sale of a good to postingterminals 700.

The market maker computer 800 may use an accounts 824 database to trackpayments due to posting terminal 700 users. The clear accounts 825module may print checks due to posting terminal 700 users. It isunderstood that electronic funds transfer techniques may be used forclearing account balances 825 for posting terminal users. A modem bank803 may be used to receive posting calls from posting terminals. It isunderstood that the modem bank may be replaced by a network connectionto the internet. At this juncture it is believed that an off-line, thatis a modem bank, connection offers the best security for the posting ofgoods. However, it is understood that a network connection, e.g. throughthe internet, is within the scope of the present invention.

A security module 804 may be used to provide identification and passwordsecurity. It is understood that other security and authenticationtechniques may be used at security module 804. It is understood thatdatabase server 806 may be an ODBC server available from many commercialdatabase providers. Much of the market maker computers 800 functionalityis disclosed above in the consignment node functionality. The databasesmay be structured to indicate of for-sale 814 database and sold database816, and auction database 817 and a shipped database 820. It isunderstood that records may move between the databases by book entrytransaction. The transaction processor 812 may use RSA certificatesand/or other well-known techniques to process secured transactionsbetween the market maker computer 800 and participants 702 and 902. Itis understood that the transaction processor 812 may interface withexternal payment systems 826. It is understood that participant accountsmay be tracked at the market maker computer 800. Moreover, it isunderstood that account surpluses may be acquired by participantsspeculating in collectable goods may be invested in highly liquid andsafe assets such as U.S. Treasury bills to provide and interest bearingaccounting for positive cash balances. This provides an incentive, or atleast a hedge against inflation, for a participant to keep funds withinthe collectible market place and to use these funds to speculate in thecollectible market. By using funds available at the market makercomputer 800 participants can reduce the transaction costs associatedwith credit cards and other transaction clearing means and optimize theparticipants' return on price movements in the buying and selling ofcollectable goods. It is within the scope of the present invention toallow access to the electronic collectable market through stock brokers,banks, and other transaction providers through these providers privatetransaction networks, e.g., those networks that use dial in telephonelines to home computers and/or dedicated data lines. It is within thescope of the present invention to allow professional investment advisorsto operate funds such as investment companies, mutual fund partnershipsand the like, that use collectable goods as part of the funds assets. Itis understood that the market “history” may be archived and provided toinvestment advisors and/or posting terminal users and/or participants ona CD-ROM or other mass storage medium to allow off-line analysis oftrends in the collectable goods market. This will allow or create a newclass of “learned” speculators in this unique, novel and non-obviouselectronic market place and network of trusted franchisees in thecollectable goods domain. It is also within the scope to the presentinvention to create the liquidity, volume and availability analysis toallow the creation of a secondary and derivative market for option andfutures contracts and other speculative constructs to be created withthe underlying assets as collectable goods in the electronic marketplace of the present invention.

Many variations of the present invention are possible once the presentinvention is known to those skilled in the arts and are within thespirit and scope of the present invention. Those skilled in the artswill be able to make many variations on the present invention once thisinvention is known to the arts.

Therefore, I claim:
 1. A computer-implemented two-tiered electronicauction system comprising: a data repository storing informationcorresponding to an inventory of one or more available items; afirst-tier providing a first participant access to the inventory of oneor more items in the data repository, the inventory being offered to thefirst participant under a first pricing scheme; and a second-tierproviding a second participant, different from the first participant,access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository, theinventory being offered to the second participant under a second pricingscheme different from the first pricing scheme.
 2. The system of claim 1wherein the first-tier comprises one or both of a business-to-consumerelectronic auction and a consumer-to-consumer electronic auction and thesecond-tier comprises a business-to-business electronic auction.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the first pricing scheme comprises retailpricing and the second pricing scheme comprises wholesale pricing. 4.The system of claim 1 wherein the second pricing scheme is transparentto the first participant.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the secondpricing scheme is unavailable to the first participant.
 6. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the first pricing scheme is visible to the secondparticipant.
 7. The system of claim 1 wherein the inventory of one ormore items comprises goods or services or both goods and services. 8.The system of claim 1 further comprising another inventory of itemsavailable only the second participant.
 9. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising another inventory of items available only the firstparticipant.
 10. The system of claim 1 wherein the first participantcomprises a retail buyer and the second participant comprises a dealer.11. The system of claim 10 wherein the dealer comprises a wholesaler.12. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of firstparticipants, each of which is offered the inventory of one or moreitems under the first pricing scheme.
 13. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising a plurality of second participants, each of which is offeredthe inventory of one or more items under the second pricing scheme. 14.The system of claim 1 wherein the first-tier and the second-tier sharethe data repository.
 15. The system of claim 1 wherein the secondparticipant can add, modify or delete items in the data repository andcan specify the first pricing scheme, the second pricing scheme or both.16. The system of claim 1 wherein the data repository comprises datarecords, each data record corresponding to an item in the inventory andspecifying a first price for the item and a second price for the item.17. The system of claim 16 wherein the first price comprises abusiness-to-consumer price and the second price comprises abusiness-to-business price.
 18. The system of claim 1 wherein the secondparticipant has privileges, unavailable to the first participant, thatenable the second participant to access the second-tier.
 19. The systemof claim 1 wherein the second participant comprises a trusted dealer.20. The system of claim 1 wherein the first-tier and second-tier areimplemented on a same computer system.
 21. The system of claim 1 whereinthe first-tier and second-tier are implemented on separate computersystems interconnected by a network.
 22. The system of claim 1 whereinthe two-tiered electronic auction system is implemented on a computersystem that also hosts an electronic market system.
 23. The system ofclaim 1 further comprising a process that determines whether aparticipant is granted access to the first-tier or the second-tier. 24.The system of claim 23 wherein the process comprises a login processthat grants the participant access to the second-tier if the participanthas been pre-approved.
 25. The system of claim 24 wherein the loginprocess determines that the participant is pre-approved to access thesecond-tier if the participant enters a predetermined login ID orpassword or both.
 26. A computer-implemented method of facilitatingcommercial transactions by providing a two-tiered electronic auction,the method comprising: maintaining a first-tier electronic auction at acomputer system, the first electronic auction comprising items offeredto consumer participants under a retail pricing scheme; maintaining asecond-tier electronic auction at the computer system, the secondelectronic auction comprising items offered to dealer participants undera wholesale pricing scheme; and linking the first-tier and second-tierelectronic auctions through a data repository having data records thatrepresent items concurrently available in both of the first-tier andsecond-tier electronic auctions.
 27. The method of claim 26 whereinlinking the first-tier and second-tier electronic auctions comprisesmaintaining a predetermined fixed rate that determines a pricedifferential between the first-tier and second-tier electronic auctions.28. The method of claim 26 wherein the predetermined price differentialis established by one or more dealer participants in the second-tierelectronic action.
 29. The method of claim 26 wherein linking thefirst-tier and the second-tier electronic auctions comprises maintaininga price differential between the first-tier and the second-tier, theprice differential being established on an item-by-item basis by one ormore dealer participants in the second-tier electronic auction.
 30. Themethod of claim 26 further comprising facilitating a financialtransaction in the first-tier electronic auction between a consumerparticipant and a dealer participant, the transaction having finality oftransaction.
 31. The method of claim 26 further comprising facilitatinga financial transaction in the second-tier electronic auction between afirst dealer participant and another dealer participant, the transactionhaving finality of transaction.
 32. The method of claim 26 furthercomprising facilitating a transaction in the first electronic auctionbetween a consumer participant and a dealer participant, the transactiontransferring a legally cognizable interest from the dealer participantto the consumer participant.
 33. The method of claim 26 furthercomprising facilitating a transaction in the second electronic auctionbetween a first dealer participant and another dealer participant, thetransaction transferring a legally cognizable interest from the firstdealer participant to the other dealer participant.
 34. The method ofclaim 26 further comprising: receiving payment information from at leastone participant in the first or second electronic auction, the receivedpayment information being associated with a transaction at the first orsecond electronic auction.
 35. A method for facilitating electroniccommerce using an electronic auction system having at least a wholesaletier and a retail tier, the method comprising: presenting for auction anitem description stored in a database operationally coupled to theelectronic auction system, the presentation of the item including acurrent retail bid amount; receiving a wholesale bid from at least onewholesale-tier participant; and selectively displacing the currentretail bid amount if the received wholesale bid increased by apredetermined amount is greater than the current retail bid.
 36. Themethod of claim 35 further comprising presenting the received wholesalebid increased the predetermined amount as a new current retail bidamount.
 37. The method of claim 35 wherein the predetermined amountcomprises a percentage of the wholesale bid amount.
 38. The method ofclaim 35 wherein the predetermined amount comprises a percentage of thecurrent retail bid amount.
 39. The method of claim 35 wherein thepredetermined amount comprises a fixed dollar amount.
 40. The method ofclaim 35 wherein the predetermined amount is determined by a participantwho offered the item for auction.
 41. The method of claim 35 whereinwholesale-tier participants are presented with the current retail bidamount and with a current wholesale bid amount.
 42. The method of claim35 wherein received wholesale bids are transparent to retail-tierparticipants.
 43. The method of claim 35 further comprising authorizinga wholesale-tier participant to access to the electronic auction using averification process executing on a computer system.
 44. The method ofclaim 35 wherein a verification process selectively grants access to thewholesale tier based on login information provided by a participant. 45.A system for facilitating electronic commerce transactions amongparticipants in an electronic auction using a data packet network, thesystem comprising: a first data storage location for storing informationrelating to an item for auction, the stored information indicating atleast one of a retail price term for a retail-tier participant and awholesale price term for a wholesale-tier participant; a second datastorage location for storing a user identification identifying aparticipant as either a retail-tier participant or a wholesale-tierparticipant; and a display process for selectively displaying, dependingon the user identification stored in the second data storage location,at least one of the retail price term to retail-tier participants andthe wholesale price term to wholesale-tier participants.
 46. Atwo-tiered auction system comprising: a retail tier in which a bid on anitem from a retail auction participant is evaluated based on an amountof the bid received from the retail auction participant; a wholesaletier in which a bid on the item from a wholesale auction participant isevaluated based on an amount of the bid received from the wholesaleauction participant increased by a predetermined amount; and a processfor differentiating retail auction participants from wholesale auctionparticipants.
 47. A method of conducting two-tiered auctions comprisingtreating received bids differently depending on whether the participantfrom whom a bid is received is a retail participant or a wholesaleparticipant.
 48. The method of claim 47 in which a bid received from aretail participant is evaluated based on an amount of the received bid.49. The method of claim 47 in which a bid received from a wholesaleparticipant is evaluated as if the received bid was for a higher amount.50. The method of claim 47 in which, if a wholesale participant wins anauction, an amount owed by the wholesale participant is less than anamount of the wholesale participant's winning bid.